Price at Time Of Review: £15 ($19)
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: Interactive Experience
Supported Platforms: Oculus Rift, Rift S
Supported Controllers: Gamepad, Oculus Touch, Oculus Remote
Best Playing Position: Standing, Sitting, Roomscale
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG
Description: Monzo VR is the premiere model builder for Oculus Rift. Want to build a car? A WWII plane? How about a Da Vinci Paddle Boat? Each model has been finely crafted so that you can build them up piece by piece in full Virtual Reality. Discover how these complex machines work. Examine your model from every angle and see how they function. Build what Da Vinci built; learn how a WWII tank works. Bring all the pieces together, and marvel at the stunning model. Once you’ve built your model, make it your own with paint and decals. You can aim to replicate the real thing, but why not have a little fun? The limit is only your creativity. But the modeling doesn’t end at machines and inventions from years past. You can build your own Pirate Ship, Space-station, even dinosaurs. Who doesn’t want to create T-Rex? What are you waiting for? Settle back, turn on music and enjoy a relaxing activity in beautiful environments. Have a zen-like experience in a Dojo, or just relax in an apartment above the city.
You can build your models using the Xbox controller or Oculus remote, but doing it with the Oculus Touch controllers which I found a lot more natural once I had got the hang of the controls. The idea is you build your model by reading the digital version of the manual and clicking on the right bits to add next. Each bit seems to snap into place and build pretty much any of the models is an easy experience that just about anyone could do, especially using the Oculus Remote. I have to say that each model is amazingly detailed and every single part of it really does look very real, pretty much exactly as it would if you had the real box and parts in front of you. Then once you have finished putting the parts together you can then customise it with paint and stickers.
I just don’t think the digital models capture the fun and effort their real life versions offered. Once a real model is made you display it with pride, to placed it somewhere where people would see it, admire it and examine your hard work and effort in detail. Sure, it is fun making the VR models, but once that is done the fun pretty much ends! You can’t display them because they don’t exist, you can’t show them off because there are no social media sharing options, they just sit in VR, not being admired which is a real shame.
But I do appreciate that a lot of effort has gone into this app and there are certainly a lot of customisation options here, from changing your workshop to the location of your models. There is also a good selection of colours and textures making each model look amazingly detailed plus some animation of the moving parts of them like doors and rotor blades/wheels, things like that. Sure it’s a lot of fun of that I can’t deny. But also a little bit pointless other than having a few hours relaxing time.
